


Comfort

by KillroyWasHere



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, tea time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 03:16:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21206507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KillroyWasHere/pseuds/KillroyWasHere
Summary: Nightmares are a tricky thing, you know they aren't real and yet they still haunt our dreams, some more than others. Sometimes all we need is a little help to keep the nightmares at bay.





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a part of the Twin Byleth AU but I felt that it needed to be its own separate story rather than a chapter so if you haven't read the first part F! Byleth's name is Bylese in this story.

“Happy birthday Edie!” Bylese was beaming with excitement as she knocked on the door. It was early in the morning and most of the students were still in their rooms, either asleep or just about to get ready for the day. Edelgard threw the door open and wrenched Bylese into her room.

“I thought I told you not to call me that, especially in public,” she reprimanded. Bylese’s smile still beamed on her face as she looked around the room. It was immaculate, every time she walked in here she was blown away and somewhat ashamed at the travesty that is her room. 

“I’m sorry I can’t help it, you turn such a love shade of red every time. I just can’t resist it.” Edelgard tried to turn away to hide her worsening blush but Bylese was already well aware of it. “I am so excited, I have so much planned for today,” she was bouncing on the balls of her feet with excitement.

“Oh, and what do you have planned today,” Edelgard playfully raised her eyebrows. She already knew what was planned for today. Bylese had been begging her to keep her schedule open on her birthday and asked what it is she would like to do. 

They both knew how Edelgard hated surprises and interruptions to her well thought out plans. Bylese still hasn’t forgotten about all the bait she had wasted on her impromptu fishing retreat. 

“We’re going to have a tea party of course! I have a new tea that I know you are going to love. Let’s go!” Bylese zoomed out of the room without even checking to see that Edelgard was leaving. She chuckled, for a woman that seems so cold it's nice to see that she has some level of enthusiasm.

Edelgard was already well awake when the professor came by to wake her, so she had ample time to prepare for their day. It was strange, beforehand she would have scoffed and scolded herself for even thinking about taking a day off and enjoying the companionship of others. She smiled as she walked out the door.

Bylese was the most nervous she has ever been in her life. She’s never had anyone as close to her as Edelgard was. Not even her brother shared the same bond as Edie, she was something else now. Just thinking about her filled her stomach with butterflies but not in the typical sense. Every time Bylese interacted with Edelgard, she felt like she was walking on eggshells.

She finally managed to get Edelgard to open up about her nightmares and even her past. Ever since then Bylese has been trying to find ways to cheer her up and try and help the pain. She knew she could never replace her lost ones, she never even thought of doing so. Bylese just wanted to show Edelgard that she can still have people close to her.

Bylese was waiting at the table when she saw Edelgard enter the courtyard. She had to control her heart as it wanted to beat out of her chest as she had to wait until the perfect moment before she could ask the question.

She sat down across from Bylese and put her hands in her lap with a pensive smile on her face. Bylese stood up and moved around the table setting it up and laying out the sweet cakes. She placed a teacup in front of both of their seats. In the center of the table sat the tea set and Bylese reached over and was about to pour tea into Edelgard’s cup when she raised her hand.

“Thank you Bylese, you’ve done enough already. I’ll pour our cups okay?” Bylese sits back down as Edelgard leans out of her chair and pours the tea. She takes a big whiff of the aroma and smiles. “This smells familiar, it's so intoxicating. What is it?”

“You’re going to have to taste it and guess,” Bylese raised her cup to her lips and took a sip of tea. It was still hot so she wasn’t able to drink it in one gulp as she wanted. It took her a long time to learn that people like to appreciate the taste and aroma. Once the tea hit her tongue she realized why.

It was naturally sweet and pleasant and the taste was constantly changing, each flavor better than the last. For a moment she forgot that Edelgard was sitting across from her as she hurried to take another sip. Edelgard smiled at her companion's reaction, she raised her tea to her lips and took a sip.

A flood of memories crashed into Edelgard, sitting around the table and drinking tea with her sisters, her brothers playing out in the courtyard. It was peaceful and serene, a time long past. She had to fight back tears as she remembered her sister offering her different types of sweets to compliment the tea. She placed the cup back down with a shaky hand and looked at Bylese.

A thick smile was on Bylese’s face as she burned her tongue trying to drink the tea. Edelgard reached over and grabbed one of the prepared sweet cakes and offered it to Bylese.

“Eat this, it's fantastic with this tea,” Bylese snatched the cake out of her hand and stuffed it into her mouth. Edelgard chuckled as she watched her eyes bulge out of her head as the explosion of flavor overwhelmed her senses. She swallowed it all down in one large gulp and breathed a long sigh of satisfaction.

“Wow,” she breathed. “You were right, that was incredible. So you’ve had this tea before?”

“Yes, a long time ago. It’s one of my favorites. How did you find it though, I thought they only sold it in the cities or you had to have it imported in bulk?”

“Remember those bandits we took out last month?” Edelgard nodded her head, they were quite the pain but she remembered it as a good training opportunity as they were able to take some of their new housemates with them.

“Well,” Bylese continued. “They were blocking some merchants from making it into the monastery so once we took them out the merchants set up shop. I thought I would go and check in with them to see if they had something you would like and they had this tea on sale. They said nobles loved it and I had to get it for you.”

“It must have been very expensive. I hope you didn’t use any of the school funds for this,” Bylese squirmed in her chair a little taking another sip from the tea.

“Well, we had some extra funds left over from all the missions we’ve been taking so I thought that it would be okay if I indulged a little,” Edelgard stared daggers at Bylese as she started to shake her hands in self-defense. “I only bought enough for two people to drink! We still have enough to replace everyone’s armor and weapons twice over. Don’t worry, I’m not that inept with money.”

Edelgard shook her head. “Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

“Yeah they had a ton of really high-quality bait but I had to restrain myself from buying them to make sure I had enough for this.” Edelgard was taken aback, the professor loved her fishing and would spend most of her free time down at the lake just fishing. To hear that she turned down good bait for this tea warmed her heart. 

Bylese cleared her throat grabbing the attention of Edelgard. “I-uh had a question for you Edelgard if you would.” Edelgard nodded her head confused as to what the professor wanted. “I’ve been thinking about what you said with your nightmares and I’ve wanted to help you with them for a while now. I just couldn’t think of a way to do so.”

“I told you to forget about them, I’ve grown used to them. It is no concern of yours.” Edelgard frowned. 

“It's not though. I can tell which nights you’ve had nightmares because of how much it affects your attitude and behavior. On good days, you come to class prepared and ready to engage and learn, you inspire the rest of the class to follow your example. However, on your bad days, no one is engaging in the class and nothing is learned. I’ve had to reteach the same subject three times because of that. Your bad days are starting to outnumber your good days. I'm starting to worry about you.”

Edelgard sat in silence. She couldn’t refute what the professor was saying but she couldn’t allow them to be true. This was her problem that she must learn to control. However, if it's affecting everyone around her, then she couldn’t keep to herself any longer.

“Alright, I’ll listen.” She whispered.

“Thank you Edelgard. I was wondering when you have nightmares if you could come down to my room and try and relax or sleep. Whenever I had nightmares I found it comforting to have someone else in the room. I don’t know if it would work for you but it's worth a try right?” 

Bylese felt her heart racing, she might have overstepped her boundaries but she felt like she had to try something. Edelgard’s condition was worsening by the week and she couldn’t think of anything else.

“Are you sure that is a smart idea? I don’t want to disturb your sleep by waking you in the middle of the night.” Edelgard was on the fence about the idea. On one hand, the idea sounded good on paper but the drawback is that if she does it too often rumors might spread around.

“Don’t worry about my sleep, I stay up most nights researching or reading. My door is always unlocked so you can just walk in.”

“I… I’ll think about it professor but I make no promises.

Bylese nodded her head. “I can ask nothing more from you. Now let's get back to this tea shall we?” 

* * *

Hell had come again. She laid on the table while the knives tore their way through her skin. They had gone dull and rusted from the sheer volume of use. She tried to calm her breathing but the all too familiar stench of blood and waste gagged her breathing forcing her breath to be quick and shallow. Her heart was strained and her mind was breaking. The darkness was the only saving grace protecting her from seeing the horrors around her. She felt eyes watching her but she knew not to seek them. The soulless husks that were her family would be all that greeted her. 

Then she heard the wailing, begging, no demanding that she look. She tore her head to the left and saw a fresh horror. Her sister sister's corpse laid on the table, the blood drained from her or the strain on her heart was too great, either way, she was gone from this world forever. 

However, that was not the worst of it, the rats had been growing bolder. They climbed on the legs of the table and inspecting the body, crawling around defiling her once beautiful sister. Then they swarmed, tearing into the flesh stripping it to the bone. Edelgard wailed and fought against the constraints begging to be let go, begging to protect what was left of her sister. 

Her struggling caused the operator to retract the knife waiting for Edelgard to tire herself out. She screamed until her throat bled, she struggled until her skin around the straps were torn and all of it was in vain. The rats devoured everything leaving only a pile of gore that she could bear to look at any longer. She closed her eyes and sobbed silently. Again she was powerless unable to even save the corpse of her loved one. She wept until she felt something crawling on her.

She cracked her eyes open and saw a rat sniffing, inspecting her own body. She rocked her body, trying to get the disgusting thing off of her but more and more climbed on top of her. She cried out, hoping that the operator would come back and help her but her voice was gone, destroyed from before. No help was coming. She watched in horror, anticipating when the feast would begin then she felt the first bite. Her body panicked and jolted. 

She was back in her room lying in bed covered in a thick layer of sweat. She couldn't move, her eyes open as she stared into the dark corners of the room. Her muscles were iron, she could feel her heartbeat in her ear like a drum signaling her imminent doom. She laid there paralyzed by terror. She tried to calm herself, try and force herself to forget the dream and fall back asleep but she couldn't do it. The pain in her heart remained, fear held dominion over her mind and no amount of her willpower can discard it. 

Then she remembered the professor's proposal. She didn’t have the strength to beat her nightmares but maybe Bylese could. Maybe she could banish these thoughts and replace them with anything else. She tried to get out of bed but her body refused, frozen in place. She screamed at her body to move, only resulting in a few inches of progress. Agonizing minutes passed as she built up the courage to leave her bed. 

Finally, her feet touched the cold hardwood and she threw off the bed covering and bolted towards the door. She slowly opened the door and saw that the halls were empty and she rushed down the stairs, her fear of being caught was rivaled only by the fear of isolation. The night air greeted Edelgard as she glided through the dorms towards the professor's room. She looked over her shoulder and saw no one there to stop her so she raised her hand but hesitated. Doubt began to swarm her as she wondered if this was the right thing to do, she couldn’t grow dependent on others. She had to stand on her own even if it killed her. 

Or did she? Thoughts of her housemates filled her head, combating the doubts in her heart. She saw their smile, their concern, their loyalty. Then the professor barged its way into her conscious, her smile, her laugh, everything about her killed any remaining doubt that hid in the far reaches of her mind. She didn’t have to be alone anymore, at least for now. 

She quietly rapped on the door and she heard shuffling from inside the room. The door creaked open and Bylese popped her head out the door. Fatigue plagued her face as she looked at Edelgard. It took a moment to register who was at the door and at that moment all the doubt flooded back into Edelgard, she knew she shouldn’t have come. The professor was going to be angry, everything was going to fall apart, life was never going to be kind to her. However, before she could run away, Bylese’s eyes widened as she opened the door and hugged Edelgard.

She stood motionless, the warmth of the hug driving out the chilling winds of night. She buried her head into Bylese’s shoulder and softly sobbed. Bylese slowly moved indoors with the weeping woman in her arms. She quietly closed the door and moved her towards the bed. 

She tapped Edelgard on the shoulder. She looked up and Bylese motioned her to sit down on the bed. They sat down together and Edelgard leaned into Bylese unable to stop the tears. Bylese stroked her hair and caressed her head, letting her get it out of her system. It seemed as though she was never going to stop crying as it just kept escalating. The soft sob quickly became blubbering bawl. She cried out unintelligible words but Bylese understood, the words of the broken and scarred. 

As time crept on, Edelgard’s grieving subsided and she laid there in Bylese’s arms unsure what to do next. Fatigue racked her body and she could barely keep her eyes open. Edelgard felt Bylese move and then she was suspended in the air. She latched onto Bylese as she was being carried in the air. Bylese giggled as she laid Edelgard into her bed leaving her to stare up at her. She looked down and noticed at the same time as Edelgard did, she wasn’t wearing her uniform but a nightgown covered Edelgard’s body but still left skin exposed.

Once again, fear took hold of Edelgard’s heart as she tried desperately to cover her arms and legs with Bylese’s blankets. In-kind, Byleses turned away allowing her a chance to hide her scars. Bylese fought the urge to look behind and take a closer look at them but she wanted to respect Edelgard's privacy. She knew that she was in a vulnerable spot and didn’t want to push her any further. She waited until she heard the shuffling of blankets stop before she dared to turn around and saw Edel’s head peeking out from the top of the blankets. She couldn’t suppress her smile as she sat next to the bed and looked at her.

Edelgard’s eyes fluttered as she was fighting back her exhaustion still afraid to fall asleep. Bylese saw her struggle to stay awake and lifted her hand and offered it to her. Edelgard took a moment to process what it was Bylese was doing. Silence hung in the air as she waited for Edelgard’s response. She slid her hand towards the end of the blanket and poked it out at the very edge of the bed, allowing her arm to be concealed by the blanket. Bylese smiled as she took the hand and gently held it with both hands.

She watched as Edelgard’s eyes slowly closed and her chest began to breathe in a constant rhythm. She waited in silence for a few minutes to make sure that she was well and truly asleep. Then she opened her hands and looked down at the porcelain skin. She was surprised to see just how many scars littered such a small surface. She raised Edelgard’s hand to her lips and gently kissed it. 

“Beautiful.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this! Any kudos or comments are greatly appreciated. I am trying to better myself as a writer and any feedback is helpful and motivational. Once again thank you for your time.


End file.
